Engine starting mechanism



R. M. NARDONE ENGINE STARTING MECHANISM original Filed sept; 1o, 193s O ct. 13, .1942.

Oct. 13, 1942.

R. MNARDQNE ENGINE STARTING MECHANISM Original Filed Sept. l0, 1938 Sheets-Sheet- 2 3012/ al a 28 INVENTOR.

Ome@ M Nardo/2e 22415; f #f Arr Patented Oct. 13, 1942 2,298,717 ENGINE STARTING MECHANISM Romeo M. Nardone, East Orange, N. J., assgnor to Bendix Aviation Corporation, South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Original application September 10, 1938, Serial No. 229,376, now Patent No. 2,197,155, dated April 16, 1940. Divided and this` application November 9, 1939, Serial No. 303,690

1 Claim.

This invention relates to engine starters adapted for utilizing fluid pressure, as from air precompressed into a reservoir or from an explosive cartridge, the fluid pressure being operable upon a confined piston in the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

One of the objects of this invention is to obtain a relatively large number of starting turns of an engine crankshaft, from a relatively short piston travel. l,

Another object is to provide means for obtaining a corresponding number of turns of ar. engine engaging clutch independently of any rotation of the piston. y

Another object of the invention is to provide improvements in the type of engine starter disclosed in my Patent No'. 2,144,195, granted January 17, 1939, the nature and scope of which improvements are indicated in the accompanying drawings and the following particular description of one form of mechanism embodying the invention. It is to be understood, however, that the ldrawings are for the purpose of illustration only, and are not'l designed as a definition of the limits of the invention, reference being had to the appended claim for this purpose.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a device embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the thimbleshaped stop;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of certain of the parts of Fig, 1, but in different relative positions; and y Fig. 5 is a detail View of the cage balls and stops assembly on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional View of a portion of the motion translating means of Fig. 1, e

incorporating therein a modiiied arrangement for retaining and controlling the action of the motion facilitating ball elements carried by said motion translating means.

With reference to the drawings, and more fr internally and helically grooved screw 24 which is externally splined as at 25, to cooperate with the internally splined tube 2l. Between the cooperparticularly to Fig. l, the piston actuated unit is contained within a sectional housing including cylindrical parts Il and I0, the latter having a flange I2 by which it is secured to the engine crankcase I3 as by bolts I4, the flange being conveniently of a size standardized for aircraft engine starters. The engine crankshaft, or other drive shaft (not shown) is provided with a clutchelement Il engageable by the piston actuated clutch-element I5 as will be later more iully deT il" scribed.

Cylinder I1 has a head end III and a crank end 20, the latter being shown as an integral part of a splined tube 2I. Slidably fitted within the cylinder I1 is a piston 23 movable with a hollow grooves 29 and 30.

ating grooves 25 and 26 are placed a series of friction reducing members shown as balls 21 assembled in a cylindrical cage 39a (Fig. 5), the end rowsv of balls having their surfaces engageable with plates 28 and 04 located at each end of the splined grooves to facilitate free rolling movement of the balls which they engage at points spaced above or below the mid-plane thereof, and also to hold the cage 30a against more than a predetermined endwise movement. A second screw 22 is drivably connected with the screw 24 by helical grooves or threads 29- and 30 which permit the axial travel of the piston 23 but cause rotation of the screw 22 because of friction reducing balls 36 inserte-d in the helical An anti-friction thrust bearing 32 is preferably interposed between a iianged skirt 34 on rear end of spacer Sta and an inwardly extending circular rim 33 of the cylindrical part I0. The inwardly extending rim 34h on the forward end of spacer 34a takes the thrust as jaw- I 5 rides into mesh with engine member I I. A spring 31 has one end resting against the closure plate 20 of the cylinder Il, and its opposite end abuts the thrust ring 38, which is, in eiiect, the outer race of a ball bearing assembly IIJ axially movable with but rotatably free of the piston 23, the intervening bearing balls facilitating free rotation of outer race 38 of the bearing, the outer race being possibly constrained to rotation by the natural twisting tendency of a spring such as the spring 31, as the latter is compressed in the forward travel of the piston. Piston rings 39 insure against the loss of pressure as the piston movesforward, and also yielclably oppose rotation of the piston, even though twisting of spring 31 should occasionally cause outer race 38 to rotate to some extent.

By use of any suitable removable connection 4I between the cylinder Il and the body flange IB, the former may be quickly detached for removing.V any fouling that may occur where combustible cartridges are used as the source of fluid pressure to move the piston 23.

The illustrated embodiment also includes improved means for automatically controlling the exhaust of the fluid pressure from the cylinder upon completion of each' operation. This exhaust control may be effected by providing an exhaust valve t2 adapted to cooperate with an exhaust port 43 conveniently formed in the housing lill, and communicating with an exhaust connection l5 leading to any desired point. In the case of an airplane, for example, this exhaust connection will lead to a point exteriorly of the fuselage. The valve 42 is carried by a stem 5 which is of such a length that with the piston in its position, as indicated in Figure 1, a spring 49 will bear against an enlarged head 52 on the stem 46 to hold valve 42 closed. At the commencement of an operative cycle of the motor, such as is occasioned by the delivery of fluid pressure to the chamber formed by the neckportion 56 of the housing i8, thisuid pressure will act upon the head portion of the valve 42 in such manner as to assist the spring 49 in maintaining the said exhaust valve 42 closed; but as the piston nearly reaches the end of'its movement, a collar 53 extending inwardly of piston 23 and surrounding the stem 46 will be brought into engagement with the head 52, and will be effective to unseat the exhaust valve 42. The exhaust valve having been unseated in the manner described, the spring 48 will be effective for holding it in open position, its maximum opening movement .being limited by a longtudinally slotted cylindricalstop 54 having a flange 5S abutting the end surfaces of the lingers 6'.' (shown in transverse section of Fig, 2) formed by longitudinally slotting the neck portion 5S of the housing I8. This neck-portion 56 is externally threaded, as shown at B8, to receive the housing 44', the latter being screwed up on the threads 58 until surface S9 of the housing i4 abuts the flange 65 of the stop 54 and with the inlet passage 45'a aligned with the longitudinal slots between 'fingers 6l. Stop 54 is adapted to be first slipped over the valve head 42; and due to the eccentricity (indicated at '50 in Fig. 2) of the apertured portion of the base 1I of the said stop, the said base has sufficient surface remaining to constitute a stop or abutment for valve head 42 in the open position of the latter, while at the same time being apertured su'fliciently to permit insertion and Withdrawal over said valve head.

'Ihe piston having completed its operative stroke, and the exhaust valve having been opened, the piston will be urged on its return stroke 'by the coil 'spring 37. During this return movement, the exhaust valve being held open, the` cylinder will be effectively scavenged. Due to the action of the spring :t3` the valve will remain open until such time as the piston collar 53 is brought to bear against the valvestem 41 for again seating the valve. This insures closing movement of the valve at the time the piston has substantially completed its return movement, the

closing being iintiated and assisted by the action of the spring means 49 above described. There .is thus provided automatically controlled exhaust means, which exhaust means is of such construction as to remain open during the major portion of the return stroke of the piston so as to insure substantially complete scavenging.

By reason of the action of spring-pressed balls 51 and 58 upon grooves 59 and 60, respectively, insleeve 22, the initial axial movement of the piston 23 will be transmitted to said sleeve 22, and the axial thrust thus imparted t jaw l5 (through the flange 62 on sleeve 22') will esta lish engagement with the engine member Il. Upon such engagement the resulting resistance to further axial travel will cause, rst, a commencement of rotation on the part of sleeve 22, and secondly, a slipping of the balls 51 and 53 from the grooves 59 to 50, so that they may be free to ride along the inner bore of the sleeve 22 vas the piston continues forward; the furthest forward relative position of the balls l and 58 being as indicated in Fig. 4.

In order 'to assure alignment between the longitudinal slots 54h the thimble shaped stop 54, and those slots Bla formed by the fingers 61 of the neck portion 55, flat surfaces 54a are provided on the thimble shaped stop (as indicated in both Figures 2 and 3) to register with correspending at surfaces a on neck portion 55. Thus there is established a direct path for the pressure fluid entering the housing, said path being in the form of a plurality of parallel passages straight through the lower halves of the slotted cylindrical walls of neck portion 58 and thimble shaped stop 54, the said parallel passages being suiciently numerous and wide to allow entry of all the non-solid part of the charge, while narrow enough to block entry of any solid (unburned) pellets or particles of explosive material from which the pressure uid may be generated.

If the entering fluid attains an excessive pressure, sufficient to carry it through theupper slotted sections of thimble shaped stop 54 and neck portion 55, with such abnormal force as to rupture the protective disc 5i), the breaking of said disc will permit the escape to the atmosphere, by way of outlet 55, of such excess pressure, thereby protecting the other parts of the device aga-inst derangement; but normally the advance of piston 23 (in response to the entry of the fluid into the chamber formed by the neckportion 55) will be rapid enough to prevent accumulation of excess pressure in the crescent shaped region 'i9 immediately above the neckportion This region 19 is formed by making the inner surface of housing 44 elliptical in crosssection, at the parts and Tl) above and below the threaded regions (73 and 14) of contact with the threaded surfaces 68 of the neck-portion 55. This has the added advantage of providing a greater width of inlet space at region 'i8 (Fig. 2) making it possible to utilize all of the parallel passages formed by fingers 6l.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 retainer rings 28, 84 and 83 are secured to the ends of elements 2|, 24 and 22, respectively, and engage the end rows of the balls 21 and 36 in tangential fashion rather than the edges of the cages, so that they tend to insure free rolling of the said balls, where otherwise there might be a binding or wedging tendency-as, for example, if the retainer surfaces engaged the balls at points in the surface of a cone passing through the centers of said balls, with its apex on the longitudinal axis of the sleeves 2l, 24 and 22.

This application is a division of my co-pending appli-cation Serial No. 229,376, filed September 10, 1938, since issued as Patent No. 2,197,155.

What is claimed is:

In an engine starter, the combination with an engine engaging member and a piston adapted for axial advance, of motion translating means coupling said piston to said engine engaging member, said motion translating means including two cylindrical drive transmitting parts one of which is internally threaded and the other of which is externally threaded, and a cylindrical roller retaining cage interposed between said drive transmitting parts, said cage having a wall of uniform thickness from one end thereof to the other, and said wall having ball receiving perforations at spaced intervals along a helical path corresponding in pitch to the pitch of the threads of said drive transmitting parts.

ROMEO M. NARDONE. 

